The danger of pesticide exposure for expectant mothers has been confirmed by a study of half a million people in the San Joaquin Valley of California, a heavy-pesticide region in which more than one-third of U.S. vegetables and two-thirds of our fruits and nuts are grown. Studying birth records, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that the top 5 percent of women with the highest exposure had negative effects for all birth outcomes, including low birth weight, gestational length, preterm birth and birth abnormalities.